Written by Tom Wareham, Curator of Maritime and Community History at the Museum of London Docklands.

Today the Museum of London Docklands celebrates its 10th anniversary as a museum – though the building itself is 210 years old and a grand and rare survivor of London’s commercial Georgian past.

Every morning as I arrive at work I am still impressed by the monumental scale of the warehouses built by London’s sugar merchants and plantation owners – even if only two of the buildings survived the firestorm of the Blitz in 1940.

On a warm day, as you cross the dock basin from the modern cityscape of Canary Wharf, the plum-coloured brickwork of the warehouses glows in greeting but, 20 years ago things were very different.  Broken windows, shattered doors and frames, leaking roofs, debris and rubbish cluttered the buildings.  It took millions of pounds to restore the building – and it took years of work to convert it into the exciting modern museum that now attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world.

The museum certainly has a unique effect on visitors who, as they discover the modern galleries, are slowly absorbed and captivated by the soft brickwork and original honey coloured timbers of the building itself. It’s as though the building itself breathes the history of the port that is being narrated in the galleries. No wonder visitors are so surprised and delighted when they come here. So, happy birthday Museum of London Docklands!

A guest post by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. Look out for more London history next week.

The most popular pleasure garden was one at Vauxhall. Each year, at the beginning of May, it opened its doors to the public. As it was located on the south side of the river, people arrived either by carriage, crossing over Westminster Bridge, or hired a waterman, at one of the city’s Thames-side stairs, to row them there by boat.

You had to pay an admission fee of one shilling (five pence) to enter. Inside, there was an enclosed space with tree-lined walks, fountains and out-door lighting. An orchestra and singers performed the latest music from a raised bandstand. Food and drink were served. The most famous item on the menu was “Vauxhall ham”. It was so thin that it was claimed you could see through it if you held it up to the light! There were supper boxes decorated with painted scenes. Looking out from them, diners could observe the fashionably dressed clientele as they promenaded up and down. The evening often ended with a firework display.

When it became dark, a whistle was blown and a number of the garden employees touched matches to fuses and, as if by magic, the garden was suddenly illuminated by over a thousand oil lamps. Later in the evening, the bolder visitors would stray into the area known as “the dark walks”, the site of amorous liaisons.

You can stroll through the Museum of London’s beautifully recreated 18th century pleasure gardens in the Expanding City: 1666-1850s gallery. Or, visit the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, now a public park which underwent a regeneration project and was re-opened last year.

 A guest post by the Museum of London as part of the Visiting the Past series.

Following several changes of address and an aspirational marriage to Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, Maison Lucile settled at 23 Hanover Square.

Lucile was an innovator and was particularly good at marketing. She sold matching lingerie; dressed actresses and musical comedy stars on and off-stage; opened a branch in New York; and briefly designed a mail order fashion line for Sears, Roebuck & Co.

The designer was also one of the first to promote dresses with fashion shows, which not only attracted female clients but also gentlemen who came to stare at the beautiful models.

After 1920, Lucile retired from her business but continued to broadcast and write about fashion. She published her autobiography, aptly named Discretions and Indiscretions, not long before her death on 20 April 1975 (78 years ago this week). Despite her contribution to the fashion world, Lucile became best known for having survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

A guest post by Beatrice Behlen from the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More fascinating London history next week

The Romans built a wall around the city of Londinium in around AD 200 but it fell into disrepair after the Roman occupation of Britain ended in AD 410. The city was abandoned for the next 400 years.

London was re-established inside the city walls in the 9th-century and throughout the medieval period the wall was repaired and strengthened. From the 16th-century onwards, London outgrew its ancient walls and much of it was either knocked down or covered by new buildings. The remains of the wall, hidden inside more modern buildings, were revealed after bombing in the Second World War destroyed large areas of the City of London.

Several sections of city wall have been preserved and are well worth visiting. They give a glimpse back in time to Roman and medieval London. Highlights include:

• Outside Tower Hill Underground station –  the Roman part of the wall is more than  four metres (13 feet) high
• The courtyard of the Grange City Hotel in Cooper’s Row – the windows (loop holes) used by medieval archers can still be seen
• St Alphege Gardens, Wood Street – you can see almost the full height of the medieval wall
• The churchyard of St Giles’ Cripplegate – medieval towers added to the city wall in the 13th-century are still visible
• Museum of London – two medieval towers and a section of city wall, altered in the 19th-century, stand in a garden next to the museum

You can find out more about the ancient city wall on the Museum of London website, or if you’d like to explore the remains of the wall, you can download the London Wall Walk guide.

A guest post by Meriel Jeater, of the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More about London’s fascinating history next week.

The open expanse of the Heath had always attracted travelling showmen but in the 19th century the event became a fully-fledged fun fair, with donkey rides, ice-cream sellers, roundabouts, side shows and coconut shies.

The fair grew in size: ordinary Londoners seized the chance to scream on the helter skelter, try their luck on the hoop-la and munch candy floss.

By 1910 the crowds on Easter Monday numbered over 200,000 people. In 1920, royalty paid a visit when Queen Alexandra drove past to view the Easter Monday festivities.

Hampstead’s Easter fun fair continued during and after the Second World War. By the 1950s the rides had become larger and noisier with American-style dodgem cars and a big wheel, but old-fashioned merry-go-rounds and hurdy-gurdy men kept a bit of Victorian character.

There were booths selling silly hats to wear, or the chance to be photographed with a live parrot on your shoulder, and it was always incredibly crowded. This was where Londoners let their hair down.

Guest post by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More London history next week

Wilton’s Music Hall

When John Wilton unveiled his “magnificent new music hall” in 1859, it was the newest venue in a thriving scene. During the late 19th and early 20th century, East London had more music hall theatres than any other part of the country. Music hall entertainment was raucous and rapid-fire; its acts often quirky and outrageous and its audiences legendarily bawdy and restless.

Many acts on the Wilton’s stage performed comic songs in character.  An enchanted 1872 reviewer described the performance of impressionist Annie Delemont:

“Miss Delemont, who has a beautiful voice and is a superior vocalist, sang serial comic ditties in a way which charmed all who listened to her.”

Upon John Wilton’s death in 1880, Wilton’s was taken over by the East End Mission of the Methodist Church who were determined to help relieve the notorious poverty in the area. They used the building as a soup kitchen and as a refuge for people whose homes had been bombed during World War II.

The Grade II listing building then fell into disrepair until 10 years ago, when it began to be used as a music and events venue.

Wilton’s Music Hall has just re-opened its auditorium after completing the first phase of a grand refurbishment. It is hosting a production of The Great Gatsby until 23 March 2013. Find out more about the history of the building or catch a show.

Guest post by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More London history next week

St Patrick’s Day is nearly here and London will once again be awash with 40 shades of green, but what are the celebrations all about?

They commemorate St Patrick, who is traditionally said to have brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century AD. The Early Christian period in Ireland (c. 400AD to 1000AD) was a time of artistic and cultural wealth – illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells and fine metalwork like the Ardagh chalice were produced.

But what was everyday life like and, more importantly for the fashion conscious, what were people wearing?

During research for the Museum of London’s Collections Online Project, a very strange looking shoe was discovered, unlike any type of footwear usually found in London. It has now been identified as coming from Ireland and dating to the Early Christian period. But what was this shoe doing in London and in the collections of the Museum of London? A hunt through our paper records provided the answer.

The shoe had been bought by Sir Guy Laking, first Keeper of the London Museum, which was founded in 1911. It was described as being Irish, but was bought by him to be used in the museum displays “to show type of shoe worn in Anglo-Saxon Times”. So here is an object that originally had nothing to do with London but is now part of London’s history, telling a story about the development of the Museum’s collections, which are many and varied.

So Happy St Patrick’s Day and why not celebrate by looking at some of our wonderful collections online?

A guest post by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More London history next week.

Newgate Prison was an impregnable jail in the centre of 18th Century London. But prisoner Jack Sheppard, born on 4 March 1702, managed to escape twice!

In 1724, just four days before his execution, Sheppard sawed through one of the iron bars of the cell, squeezed through the gap, and made his way to the prison reception area where he walked out through Newgate’s main entrance.

His second escape was even more remarkable. This time he was shackled and handcuffed but still freed himself. He removed a bar blocking the chimney and climbed up it. He picked the locks of various doors and made his way up onto the roof. Realising that he needed something to lower himself down, he returned to his cell via the same route and collected his blanket. Once on the roof again, he let himself down onto the roof of a house backing on to the prison. Climbing through a garret window, he made his way down through the house and walked out of the front door!

However, it wasn’t long before he was caught and taken back to Newgate. Sheppard’s exploits made people curious to know what he looked like. The artist Sir James Thornhill visited him in his cell just before his execution, and made a drawing which was made into a popular print. You can see a copy on display at the Museum of London.

The site of Newgate Prison is now occupied by the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales.

A guest post by the Museum of London as part of our Visiting the Past series. More London history next week.

By the 1840s, the city’s sweethearts were sending each other around half a million Valentine’s cards every February. This was thanks to the new Penny Post, which allowed letters to be sent for one penny. With several deliveries a day, the Penny Post was as close as the Victorians got to texting their loved ones!

The card on the right  is one of 1700 Valentine’s cards in the Museum of London’s collection. It was made in the workshops of Islington stationer, Jonathan King and dates from the 1850s. King ran his business in partnership with his mother. In their workshop on Essex Road, the largely female workforce would assemble cards from coloured paper, lace and printed scrap motifs. Many of King’s Valentines were exported to America, where they were advertised for sale as the latest London fashions.

Guest post by the Museum of London as part of our new Visiting the Past series. More about London’s history next week

Find out what’s happening in London THIS Valentine’s Day!

This weekend, the largest Chinese New Year celebrations outside of Asia take place in and around London’s Chinatown in Soho. But did you know that London’s original Chinatown was in East London?

Limehouse was the site of a short-lived porcelain factory founded by George Wilson in 1746. It was one of many attempts to make a British version of the beautiful, white ceramic that was flooding into London from the Far East. Limehouse porcelain  looked Chinese but was made in East London. You can see examples of this porcelain at the Museum of London.

One hundred years later, a small community of Chinese sailors settled at Limehouse Causeway. This was one of two small, East End Chinese communities. The other was in Pennyfields in Poplar, where Chinese sailors from Shanghai had settled. Virtually all were single men, some of whom married British women.

By 1914, there were around 30 businesses and 300 people living in these small East End communities. Limehouse and Pennyfields became known as Chinatown, and many of its inhabitants made a living by running laundries.

During the Second World War, the Docklands area, including Chinatown, was badly damaged and many Chinese people moved out. In the 1950s, the market for Chinese food grew and restaurants and stalls began to spring up in Gerrard Street and Lisle Street. This was the start of the Chinatown we know today in Soho.

Find out more about Chinatown’s history or discover today’s Chinatown in Soho

Guest post by the Museum of London as part of our brand new Visiting the Past blog series. More fascinating facts about London’s history from the Museum of London next week!